1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to synthetic surgical adhesives/sealants and tissue bonds created by reacting the adhesive with living mammalian tissue, and more specifically, to a tissue cross-linking pre-polymer for the purpose of forming a tissue crosslinked bond. This application is a application with commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/676,851 filed Sep. 29, 2000, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,524,327 on Feb. 25, 2003, and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614, Matsuda et al describes a method for surgical bonding of tissue, which comprises applying thereto a surgical adhesive consisting essentially of at least one NCO-terminated hydrophilic urethane prepolymer, derived from at least one organic polyisocyanate and a polyol component comprising at least one hydrophilic polyether polyol having an oxyethylene content of at least 30%.
In the present invention, the hydrogen peroxide pretreatment is replaced with an organic polyisocyanate treatment. The treatment is achieved when excess polyisocyanate is added to the prepolymer. This modification creates a 1-part formulation that bonds tissue upon contact. This excess is critical, compositions without free polyisocyanate form mechanical rather than covalent bonds that are susceptible to swell and differential motion between tissue and the cured adhesive. Therefore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614 does not achieve a covalent bond with tissue.
The triol nature of the adhesive is also very important. Surgical adhesives without trifunctional or branched structure will not bond tissue. This feature is not taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614.
The formation of a hydrated bond is critical in surgical environments. Most polyurethane prepolymers, and in particular those taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614, will not form hydrogels due to the lack of the use of a trifunctional additive in the reaction mix. We have found that polyurethane prepolymers that do not form hydrogels do not make strong bonds to tissue, and cross link internally rather than bonding to tissue.
The examples of U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614 site p-phenylene diisocyanate, which is not reactive enough to form strong tissue bonds. Those with TDI (Toluene Diisocyanate) do not have the proper PEO/PPO (polyethylene oxide/polypropylene oxide) ratio to form hydrogels. The examples given and the text illustrate that a hydrogel formation was not a goal of U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614. U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614 does not teach formation of a hydrogel with 30-90% water. Devices of the type given in U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614 will take up about 10% water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614 does not teach a covalent bond, or the necessity of tissue or bodily fluids to bond formation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614 may disclose the achieving of hemostasis through mechanical bonding but this teaching will not achieve useful levels of durability resulting from covalent bonding, nor will the desired level of flexibility and biocompatibility be achieved without hydrogel formation.
Since U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614 refers to addition of cyanoacrylic compounds, defined in the text as “cyano groups”, this represents a further divergence from the object of producing desired “hydrated” bonds, particularly since such compounds exclude water. Such formulation of this prior art has been found to self-polymerize before forming a bond with tissue.
The present invention achieves bonding success through the orchestration of three polymerization pathways. One, the free polyisocyanate bonds to tissue. The free polyisocyanate bonds first to tissue because it is more mobile (lower molecular weight) than the NCO terminated polyol. This feature prevents competition between bulk polymerization and tissue bonding. Two, the NCO terminated polyol bonds to the free polyisocyanate or amine on the tissue interface. Three, the NCO terminated polyol bonds amongst itself to form bulk adhesive strength and collects remaining unreacted free polyisocyanate or polyamine (a safety feature). The polyamine is formed by reaction of polyisocyanate with water. The order of this cascade is critical and is determined by 1) the presence of free polyisocyanate, 2) the reactivity of the free polyisocyanate, 3) the molecular weight of the polyol, 4) the trifunctionality of the polyol, 5) protein initiated polymerization and the location of that reaction, and 6) water initiated polymerization and the diffusion direction of the water. None of this is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,614.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,147 (McGrath et al.) describes a process for the formation of poly(secondary amine) comprising units of Structure 6 wherein P1 represents the repeating unit of a polymer containing olefinic unsaturation which has been hydroformylated and reductively aminated. P2 represents the repeating unit of the same polymer containing olefinic unsaturation having reactive carbon-carbon double bonds. R is selected from the group consisting of aliphatic, aromatic, cycloaliphatic, substituted aliphatic, aromatic and cycloaliphatic groups and combinations thereof, and the ratio of P1 to P2 is about 1:99 to about 90:10. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,147 refers to amines of a particular structure, and more generally to processes for creating such amines. This patent does not teach or relate to tissue bonds. The amines formed by the reaction of the adhesive of the present invention with tissue which forms the bond, is not taught by the '147 patent since the tissue portion of the '147 patent is not a repeating unit polymer containing olefinic unsaturation. Furthermore, the amines discussed in the '147 patent require the metal catalysts primarily concerned with controlling functional density. The hydroformylation reaction is conducted under a monoxide/hydrogen atmosphere at a high pressure. The processes are not useful in the formation of tissue bonds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,301 (Itoh, Matsuda) relates to prepolymers formed of polyester polyol derived from dicarboxylic acid. The polyester polyol of this reference will not create a hydrogel, nor a suitably flexible polymer. The fluorinated diisocyanate will self-polymerize before creating a useful tissue bond. Furthermore, the excess polyisocyanate of the present invention is not present. Halogens figure prominently in the text, and although they reportedly provide enhanced biocompatibility, the present inventor's experience with fluorine containing diisocyanates has indicated that they tend to transform significantly during storage. In general, the compositions of the teachings in the '301 are likely to be unstable and transform during both storage and irradiation sterilization.
One of the primary goals of the '301 was to create a biodegradable formulation, but by sacrificing its bond strength. Biodegradable formulations are created in the present invention by increasing the EO (ethylene oxide) content.
Example 1 (in the '614 patent) particularly illuminates the difficulty in striking a balance between bond effectiveness and degradability. A hybrid consisting of a degradable polyol and a PEO-PPO polymer is reacted with FHDI, a fluorinated diisocyanate. The PEO-PPO polymer provides strength and the polyester component provides the points of degradation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,542 (Matsuda et al) is very similar to '614 except that the fluorinated polyisocyanate as a more biocompatible isocyanate is introduced. Claim 2 in particular teaches fluorine-containing aliphatic polyisocyanates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,662 (Bennett et al) describes a bioabsorbable composition comprising a branched copolymer containing a major amount of alkylene oxide units and a minor amount of units derived from a bioabsorbable monomer, the copolymer being terminated with at least one lysine isocyanate group. The '662 focuses on bioabsorbable implantable compositions. It mentions its use as a surgical adhesive or a bone putty. It does not patent the composition comprising a prepolymer, bodily fluids, and tissue—all of which are required to form a tissue bond. The text defines the type of surgical adhesive: “The cross-linked star polymers are useful for example as bone adhesives or bone fillers (p.5)”. References to surgical adhesives are made nowhere else in the body of the patent. It does not describe a covalent bond to tissue. It does not discuss the need, or indicate in any claim the presence of free polyisocyanate. Furthermore, the compositions disclosed in '662 are viscous and better described as “putty”. These reasons suggest that the compositions are unsuitable as tissue adhesives.
Furthermore, claim 1 of the '662 patent is very specific about the type of isocyanate to be used although the text is more general. Claim 1 is not particular about the isocyanate being poly-functional, although the text discusses difunctional alternatives. The absence of a poly-functional specification and the absence of a catalytic formation of amine by reaction of free polyisocyanate with water leads to the conclusion that claim 1 of the '662 patent does not relate to tissue adhesives, except insofar as being a component. Such a composition would have minimal tissue bonding capability.
The type of isocyanate specified in the '662 patent will likely require a catalyst to be effective as a tissue adhesive. For example, in the text it states, “Cross-linking is normally performed by exposing the terminated polymer to water in the presence of a catalyst, such as a tertiary amine”. It does not teach in the text nor does it specify in the claims the use of an excess for polyisocyanate and its interaction with body fluids to produce the necessary amine. It is not specified in the text or in the claims what fraction of the star molecule's arms are terminated. This specification is critical to ensure propagation of tissue interpenetrating structures, and in the absence of further teaching would favor self-polymerization over crosslinking to tissue structures.
There is some question as to whether the composition of claim 1 is bioabsorbable since the minor component is bioabsorbable, and the polyfunctional aspects of the alkylene oxide units may produce sufficient cross linking to prevent dissolution of the cured composition. The text of the '662 patent teaches away from surgical adhesives stating, “It has been discovered that novel polymers in accordance with this disclosure can serve as a substrate for cell growth. Specifically, star polymers terminated with lysine diisocyanate, with or without an induced charge, can be used as a cell growth substrate.” The text further teaches away from a surgical adhesive by citing applications of the composition recited in claim 1 that are nonfunctional with respect to the isocyanate, “ . . . one or more medico-surgically useful substances, e.g., those which accelerate or beneficially modify the healing process when particles are applied to a surgical repair, can be incorporated into surgical devices made from materials described herein . . . .” The text thus strongly suggests that the composition recited is to be used as a delivery device for therapeutics in its cured or cross-linked state, not as a tissue adhesive. The text also does not link isocyanate reactivity to the composition's ability to deliver therapeutics.
All of the examples use a catalyst, Sn(Oct) which is toxic and not acceptable for use in the manufacture of medical devices. The present invention achieves its composition without the use of catalysts and specifically teaches away from their use. Furthermore, the composition of the '662 patent could not be manufactured without the use of these catalysts since the arms of the star molecule would likely sterically hinder arm termination by isocyanate.
Finally, the abstract and text of the '662 patent suggests the composition taught is fully crosslinked before its use in the body. For example, “The star polymers can be terminated with isocyanate, mixed with a filler and/or cross-linked.” It appears that the reference of its teachings as a surgical adhesive is restricted to those substances that are tacky or mechanically adhesive and non-functional with respect to the isocyanate.
In summary, several absorbable compositions are in the public domain. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,839 covers hydroxy carboxylic acid based compositions and U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,592 covers isocyanate terminated hydroxyester polyol based compositions. These compositions are meant to be included in the family of absorbable 1-part adhesives, a subset of the present invention when they are composed in the proportions described herein.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a tissue crosslinking prepolymer which will form a mammalian tissue crosslinked bond.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a 1-part tissue bonding composition that bonds mammalian tissue together in one step.
It is another object of the present invention to achieve a catalytic amine by providing in the 1-part formulation an excess of free polyisocyanate that is transformed to the amine by body fluids.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a prescription and means for the proper form of the polyol to be used in the present invention wherein the polyol should be multifunctional or branched.
It is another object of the present invention to provide prescriptions for the composition of the polyol that provide for hydrogel formation and absorbability.
It is one primary object of this invention to provide, through the composition of the adhesive, a sequence of chemical reactions that will ensure optimal tissue bonding. Namely, free polyisocyanates with their lower molecular weight and low viscosity will be present to bond first to tissue, thereby providing a strong link between tissue and the larger molecular weight of the polyisocyanate capped polyol. Those free polyisocyanates that are not bonded to tissue are converted to amines by fluids in and surrounding the tissue. These amines migrate into the bulk of the adhesive creating first links between the capped polyol and polyisocyanates bonded to tissue and second linking arms of the capped polyols.
It is another primary object of this invention to provide a biodegradable tissue adhesive. One novel feature of the present invention is that the structure of the adhesive is not broken down. Weak crosslinking provides dissolution of the adhesive. The implant swells and eventually goes into solution without actual breaking of the chemical bonds.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbable tissue adhesive that does not sacrifice strength for degradability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a biocompatible, non-absorbable tissue adhesive that remains biocompatible by providing resistance to chemical degradation.